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US actor Robin Williams found dead

The Oscar-winning actor dies from an apparent suicide in his Tiburon home, near San Francisco.

12 Aug 2014 05:56 GMT

Williams had entered a Minnesota rehabilitation centre last month to help him maintain sobriety [Reuters]

Robin Williams, an Oscar-winning actor and comedian, has died from an apparent suicide at his home in Northern California, Marin County Sheriff's Office said. He was 63.

"This morning, I lost my husband and my best friend, while the world lost one of its most beloved artists and beautiful human beings. I am utterly heartbroken," Williams's wife Susan Schneider said in a statement on Monday.

The sheriff's coroner's division said it suspects the death was a suicide due to asphyxia, but the cause of death is still under investigation.

The Marin County Sheriff's office said it received an emergency call about noon local time on Monday, saying that Williams was unconscious and not breathing at his home near Tiburon, north of San Francisco.

Williams, who won an Academy Award for his role as a fatherly therapist in 1997's "Good Will Hunting," had been suffering from severe depression recently, his publicist Mara Buxbaum said.

Williams, who introduced his frenetic style on late 1970s TV series "Mork & Mindy" and had struggled with addiction in the past, had entered a Minnesota rehabilitation centre last month to help him maintain sobriety.

His representatives at the time said Williams was not using drugs or alcohol but had gone to the centre to "fine-tune and focus" his sobriety after working a longer-than-usual schedule.

The Marin County Sheriff's office said it received an emergency call about noon local time on Monday, saying that Williams was unconscious and not breathing at his home near Tiburon, north of San Francisco.